September 15, 2009

9 Al Umma prisoners released in Coimbatore

He was a teenage ‘human bomb’ that failed to explode during the serial blasts that shattered the industrial hub of Coimbatore in February 1998. On Tuesday, a smiling Fakrudeen Ali Ahmed and eight other Al Umma men, convicted for harbouring, planting and distributing explosives, walked free from Coimbatore Central Prison after the DMK government remitted their 13-year sentences to mark the birth centenary of party founder CN Annadurai. All nine prisoners were released from jail in the early hours of Tuesday. Another convict, Yousuf Abdul Wahab, who was also granted a pardon, was not freed because he faces two more criminal cases for harbouring explosives and for intimidating jail staff. The nine who walked free are aged between 27 and 45, and were due for release in 2011. Taking into consideration provisions for “good conduct in jail”, they could have been let off either in December 2009 or sometime next year, prison officials said. The decision to release them as a humanitarian gesture has raised legal questions because last year the state government had said that it would not commute the sentences of prisoners convicted for serious crimes involving explosives, arms, drugs and violence against women. The DMK government released more than 1,400 prisoners to mark the commencement of Anna’s birth centenary celebrations in September 2008, including some serving life sentences. A petition challenging the release is pending in the Supreme Court.TN GOVT SETS JAILBIRDS FREENine prisoners were serving 13-year jail terms for 1998 Coimbatore blasts All of them were found guilty of conspiracy, murder and use of explosivesThe nine escaped life sentences because the bombs they planted did not go off